Monday, December 29, 2014

Million Dollar Pound Cake

My son sent me a text a few days before Christmas asking for his dad's recipe for pound cake. I was in South Florida at my daughter's and did not have my recipe file. I told him to google Southern Living's Million Dollar Pound Cake and he should have no trouble finding the recipe. My husband, Walter, loved to cook and bake. He would do most of the holiday baking and turned up some great creations, but, also had some failures. About every third year, his Million Dollar pound cake would be "sad" as my mother would say. The center would not be done and have a gluey streak. I have done my homework and found that overcreaming the flour causes this "Sad" streak. The butter, eggs. and sugar can be beaten at medium speed, but once the flour is added, the mixer should be turned way down to as low as possible.

Pound Cakes originated in Europe during the 1700's, but as the first settlers landed in Virginia, the Carolina's, and Georgia, the recipe became quite popular in southern culture. The True Pound Cake recipe calls for a pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour, and a pound of eggs. Over the decades, the cake has evolved into the delicacy that we enjoy today. In the 1851 cookbook, Direction of Cookery, the author Eliza Leslie uses ten eggs, beaten very lightly, mixed with a pound of flour and sugar. She then added the juice of two lemons and three oranges - sounds good to me. Never use cake flour in a pound cake as it lacks the strength to support the heavy batter.

My Daughter-in-law Dana is an excellent cook and made the perfect Million Dollar Pound Cake. She had no "sad" streaks, and that delectable crust on the top that the kids all pick off and eat first thing. My Bailey grandchildren are getting to be teenagers and have quite the flair for "eating"  and  cooking.

I am going to type the recipe word for word as it is in my Southern Living cookbook from 2002.  This is one cake that needs to be mixed correctly with no impromptu short cuts or missed steps. 

All ingredients should be brought to room temperature about 30 minutes before you begin your mixing.

Also, Preheat the oven to 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

Million Dollar Southern Living Pound Cake

1 pound butter, softened at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
4 cups all purpose flour - I always use King Arthur or White Lily
3/4 cups sweet milk - this is an old southern term that distinguishes whole milk from buttermilk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanillla extract

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. (The butter will become a lighter yellow color; this is an important step, as the job of the mixer is to incorporate air into the butter so the cake will rise. It will take 1 to 7 minutes, depending on the power of your mixer.) Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. (Again, the times will vary, and butter will turn to a fluffy white.) Add eggs one at at time, beating just until yellow yolk disappears. 

Add flour to creamed mixture alternately with mill, beginning and ending with flour. Beat at LOW speed just until blended after each addition. (The batter should be smooth and bits of flour should be well incorporated; to rid the batter of lumps, stir gently with a rubber spatula.) Stir in extracts. 

Pour into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan. (Use vegetable shortening or butter to grease the pan, getting every nook and cranny covered. Sprinkle a light coating of flour over the greased surface.)

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack. 


Tuesday, December 9, 2014

My Lifelong Quest - The Perfect Pecan Pie


Pecan Pie is one our family favorite desserts for holidays or just anytime. I have been on a lifelong search for the perfect pecan pie. For years, I have used the recipe on the back of the Karo Syrup bottle. I find that it is fine and tastes good, but I want something a little more special. I have tried the chocolate pecan pie recipes, the cream cheese layer version, and even the pecan pie cake that Southern Living featured one Christmas. This year, I have settled on a recipe that uses brown sugar and dark Karo syrup. We had it at Thanksgiving and I thought that it was delicious. It is a version that I adapted from Taste of the South's magazine. 

Pecan Pie is not a new addition to our holiday meals. My grandparents had a small pecan orchard by the side of their home in South Georgia. Each year, my grandmother would gather the pecans and sell them at the local market. Her profit would be her Christmas money. Her instructions to my mother and her sisters would be to start at the base of the tree collecting the nuts. Then, the girls would work in a circle moving away from the center of the tree picking up the delicious pecans. 
Even after my grandmother has passed away, there was always a bowl of pecans in the TV room at my granddaddy's house with a nutcracker and pick. Pecans are a staple in South Georgia, They are stirred into almost all cakes and pies and eaten by the handful as snacks. They freeze wonderfully. When my mother was moving to Florida to live with us, we cleaned out her freezer and found pecans at least five years old. They tasted great and made many a pecan pie.

Southern Pecan Pie

1/2 package Pillsbury pie crust
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup butter melted- then cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash salt 
2 cups pecan halves

In a medium bowl, stir together eggs, brown sugar, Karo syrup, butter, vanilla, and salt. Gently stir in pecans. 
Pour mixture into unbaked prepared crust. 
Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cover pie loosely with aluminum foil and bake another 20 minutes more, or until center is set. 
Cool completely on wire rack.
Serve with freshly whipped cream.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Get Ready for Christmas with Cinnamon Loaves


It is hard to believe that these delicious cinnamon loaves for Christmas morning start with a simple yellow cake mix. They are moist and sugary and will fill your home with sugar plum smells while baking. The very best thing about the loaves are that they wonderfully. Pull one out a few hours before serving, unwrap, and you will have an easy addition to your Christmas morning breakfast buffet.
We love cinnamon at my house, and I have recently learned to splurge a little and purchase the Saigon or Vietnamese cinnamon. It makes a world of difference in baking, expecially during the holidays, when you will certainly want your home filled with the aroma of the season.

Cinnamon Loaves

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix with pudding
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons Saigon cinnamon

Beat first five ingredients with an electric mixer about 3 minutes
Pour half of batter evenly into 2 greased and floured 8 X 3 3/4 inch loaf pans
Stir together cinnamon and sugar
Sprinkle half of sugar over batter in the pans
Pour remaining batter evenly into loaf pans, and sprinkle evenly with remaining sugar.
Gently swirl with a knife.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in pan on wire racks
These freeze well
Wrap in saran wrap and then wrap in aluminum foil.

Enjoy!!!! So easy - the kids can bake them!!!



Thursday, December 4, 2014

Lemon Pudding Cake

When I was growing up, we had dessert every single night. My mother taught school and would start supper early in the morning. She would put on a pot of peas or green beans or even brown the meat for dinner. Then, after school, she would pull everything out of the refrigerator and finish the meal. We always had bread too. My daddy said that "bread was the staff of life". She either fried cornbread patties, made biscuits, or had grocery store brown 'n serve rolls. I do not know how she accomplished everything that she did. As I have mentioned before, she was a great improviser with cake mixes and specialty dessert products. I remember the Betty Crocker pudding cake mix very well. Mother would prepare it right before we sat down for dinner and then serve it warm for dessert.

When I married in 1970, one of the first recipes that I tried out of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook was the lemon pudding cake. It is a sweet, yet tart, warm, and comforting dessert - just perfect for a weeknight treat. 

Lemon Pudding Cake

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup sifted all purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 well-beaten egg yolks
3 stiffly beaten egg whites

Combine sugar, a dash of salt, and flour; stir in melted butter, lemon peel, and juice.
Combine milk and egg yolks, add to lemon mixture.
Fold in beaten egg whites.
Pour into 8 x 8 x 2 inch baking pan.
Place in larger pan on oven rack.
Pour hot water into larger pan one inch deep
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm or chilled. 

We enjoy serving this pudding cake warm, just as my mother preferred. 

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Scotchy Fudge For the Holidays


I have been making this super easy stovetop fudge since 1970. My first Christmas as a new bride was in Vienna, Georgia. My husband and I lived on his Uncle's farm in a little house known to all of the neighbors as the Perkle place. I have no idea who the Perkle's were, but I loved that little house. We closed off one of the front bedrooms and the living room and lived in the family room/kitchen combination. Our little fresh cut pine tree decorated one corner of the room. I was still learning how to cook, and my mother sent me this recipe. She had been making the easy fudge for years and knew that I could possible succeed with these very simple ingredients and instructions.
Scotchy Fudge

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Line an 8 X 8 inch square pan with aluminum foil or wax paper that has been lightly sprayed with Pam.
Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in condensed milk over hot, not boiling water, in a double boiler.
Stir until all chips are melted.
Remove pan from heat and let slightly cool.
Stir in vanilla and chopped nuts- if desired
Refrigerate until firm enough to cut into squares - several hours or overnight
Store in refrigerator.

At Thanksgiving, my daughter and I made several different batches. Some with and some without nuts. As the old saying goes, "Sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't". 
Package this fudge in cute little boxes to share with all of your neighbors. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Cornbread Dressing and a Family Thanksgiving


Several years ago, I tried a recipe for cornbread dressing that I found in Southern Living's holiday cookbook. It was prepared the night before and cooked Thanksgiving morning in the slow cooker. Our family loved it and gave me the authority to never go back to my mother's egg bread and biscuit recipe. Her recipe is delicious, but is quite time consuming and takes up valuable cooking space in the oven. This "new" dressing is super moist, yet gets quite crusty on the sides, for those who love that aspect. Boiled eggs, oysters, or sausage can also be added, along with any other family preferences that you may have. 

The first step is to bake two pouches of Martha White cornbread mix the night before preparing the dressing.
I just simply use the directions on the  pouch with the exception of replacing the milk or water with buttermilk. Don't forget to preheat your greased pan in the very hot also for about 8 minutes. 

Cornbread Dressing

5 cups crumbled cornbread - this is two pouches of Martha White Cornbread Mix - be sure not to get the sweet version
1 14 ounce package of  herb stuffing mix
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 32 ounce container of chicken stock
1 large sweet Vidalia onion - diced
1 cup diced  celery
4 large eggs - lightly beaten
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper
salt to taste
2 Tablespoons butter - cut up in pats

Saute onion and celery in 1 tablespoons butter in pan
Combine all ingredients except butter in large bowl.
Pour cornbread mixture into well greased 6 qt slow cooker
Dot with the butter
Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours until set and thoroughly cooked

Enjoy with your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey

Parker loved everything about his Thanksgiving turkey and dressing and didn't spill a thing on Aunt Phyllis's upholstered chairs. 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Aunt Winnie's Famous Squash Casserole

I have been chomping at the bits for some of Aunt Winnie's Famous Squash Casserole. For years, we called it Aunt Winnie's Squash Casserole, but everyone who gets a delectable portion wants the recipe. Therefore, I have officially added "Famous" to the title this year. I have never seen this recipe anywhere else, but in her recipe collection, which I was lucky enough to inherit. This casserole is cheesy, buttery, filled with fresh yellow squash, and even  has a little kick.

My parents both grew up in Seminole County, Georgia. Aunt Winnie moved down the road to Colquitt, when she married. She was over forty when she married, but daddy always referred to her as an Old Maid. On the other hand, I always thought that she was absolutely beautiful, with perfume sprayers and big dusting powder puffs for after baths. She had shoes to match every outfit, and a play by number keyboard, which was the neatest thing.

After she married, she always hosted Thanksgiving dinner. My mother and her sister Aunt Nettie Doris would get up early and prepare their specialty dishes, but Aunt Winnie was always the star of the show.
Colquitt, is a very small town in Southwest Georgia, but has a quaint little shopping street.
It is also the home of the Mayhaw Festival and has several Mayhaw Jelly businesses. 
Several years ago, the historic Tarrer Inn was restored and is now a lovely bed and breakfast with a traditional southern dining room. It is definitely a place to visit if you are ever in the area. 

Aunt Winnie's Famous Squash Casserole

1 1/2 cup yellow squash, cooked and salted
1 cup diced or shredded cheese
1 cup crushed saltine crackers
2 Tablespoons minced parsley flakes
3 Tablespoons chopped red pimento
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup scalded milk
Red pepper, black pepper, and salt to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together in a buttered quart casserole.
Bake in a 350 degree oven 45 minutes to one hour.
It can be prepared the day before and baked on your special holiday. 


Monday, November 17, 2014

1960's French Onion Soup and the Clewiston Inn


When I was growing up in South Florida, Clewiston, to be exact, my daddy would often have trips and business dinners on weeknight evenings. Momma and I would often eat at the Clewiston Inn. Two items stand out in my mind after all of these years. I remember dining on deliciously salty French Onion Soup with a melted cheese toast in the bowl. My other favorite was a strawberry cream dessert. It consisted of whipping cream, fresh strawberries, and probably cream cheese and confectioner's sugar. It was served in a square with a dollop of whipped cream. My mother was an excellent cook and decided that she would prepare the French Onion soup at home. I don't know where she came up with the recipe, but I remember her version was even tastier than at the Inn. Of course, I found it hand written in the back of one of her cookbooks.

French Onion Soup

4 large onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 10 1/2 ounce cans beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
Dash Pepper
Loaf of French Bread, cut into slices
Grated Fresh Parmesan Cheese

Cook onion in butter till lightly browned, about 20 minutes
Add broth and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to boiling. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
Simmer about 20 minutes. 
Sprinkle bread slices with cheese; place under broiler until cheese is melted and lightly browned
Pour soup in bowls and place toast slice on top.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Banana Coffee Bread - Make and Freeze for the Holidays


As we are approaching the week before Thanksgiving, menu planning and grocery shopping goes into full swing. If you are expecting a house full of company, especially with teenagers or college students, breakfast planning may become an issue. They do love to sleep late, but need a little bit of nourishment with their morning coffee, coca cola, or orange juice. I have been baking this banana coffee bread for well over forty years. I have tried many other versions of banana bread, but always return to this super moist and delicious easy to mix and bake recipe. It was one of my first baking endeavors as a new bride, and turned out perfectly, much to my surprise. I don't think that I have ever had a mishap with this recipe. I use self-rising flour and have switched the original recipe from shortening to vegetable oil. It is baked in a square pan and therefore, bakes up quickly and more evenly than in a loaf pan. If freezes wonderfully, and is perfect to make now for Thanksgiving or Christmas guests. When the children would bring guests home for Thanksgiving, I would always put a little basket of these banana squares in their rooms for late night snacks or noon breakfasts.

Banana Coffee Bread recipe is adapted from the 1970 Better Homes and Gardens recipe book - quick bread category

Banana Coffee Bread

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 to 1 cup mashed bananas
1 1/4 cups self rising flour
Mash the bananas really good; until they create juice, this helps add moisture to the quick bread.


Cream shortening with sugar. Add eggs, one at at time, beating well after each. Stir in bananas. Add flour to mixture. Mix well. Pour into greased 9x9x2 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

When freezing this bread, I let it cool completely in the pan. Then, I  run a knife around the edges. It releases well from the pan. I then wrap the bread in Saran Wrap and wrap again with aluminum foil. It makes an easy to store, compact package for the freezer. Remove wraps when ready to thaw.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Holiday Vanilla Wafer Fruit and Nut Roll


My grandmother always had an icebox fruit cake for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She had a mile high soaked in brandy and wrapped in cheesecloth fruit cake also. It was stored way in the back of the pantry in a dark cool spot. But my favorite was always the ice box fruit cake rolled in a log and perfect for nibbling by my cousin and myself. It was often made with graham crackers, but my Aunt Winnie would make it with vanilla wafers. Aunt Winnie didn't get married until she was over forty and always lived with my grandparents during my childhood years. She worked at the bank downtown and would always take me to the dime store shopping. We would always buy a paper doll book and a bag of the world's best popcorn. I remember that smell so vividly. I dearly loved my Aunt Winnie. She would let me use all of her bubble bath products and her big fluff of a bath powder mitt.

During our Thanksgiving and Christmas visits to South Georgia, we would get up early, have grits and eggs and then breakfast dessert. Breakfast dessert for my cousin and myself was this delicious Fruit and Nut log served with half milk and half coffee and lots of sugar. My parents always carried on with the breakfast dessert tradition for my children also. In later years, when my grandparents were gone and we visited my parents' home for the holidays, they would serve ice cream or a piece of cake to the kids after breakfast, and in the summer it was always fresh peaches with heavy whipping cream and lots of sugar. Breakfast dessert is definitely only a grandparent tradition. I never thought to say "no" to my parent's indulgences for the children. It was their right and privilege to spoil them.

I found this recipe written on an old yellowed piece of paper in her cookbook. I have tried to revise it a little.

Vanilla Wafer Ice Box Fruit Cake

1 box of vanilla wafers
2 cups chopped pecans
2 cups raisins or nowadays, I love craisins
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 jar maraschino cherries - drained and chopped
1 14 oz  can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

In a bowl, combine all ingredients except confectioners sugar: mix well - remember that clean hands are the best mixing tool
Form mixture into 4 equal size logs
Place confectioners sugar in shallow dish and roll logs in sugar- coat completely
Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight
Slice just before serving

The logs make great gifts and no cooking at all -





Monday, October 27, 2014

Holidays Through the Decades - The 1960's - All About Me

As November fast approaches, I get very excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas being just around the corner. Our childhood plays a very important part in making us who we are today. From Thanksgiving to Christmas was a magical time at our house. It was filled with good food, lots of family visits, and cocktail and dinner parties.

My favorite childhood memories revolve around holidays during the 1960's. Times were changing. Modern day conveniences were quite common. Everyone I knew had color TV, air conditioning, a bouffant hair dryer, and at Christmas, a fabulous artificial tree - and if your mother was really modern and hip, your tree might have been silver or white. Perry Como's Christmas special was the highlight of the television season. Cocktail parties were an every weekend event, and we kiddos trailed along, eating Lipton's California Dip on deliciously greasy Charles Chips.

The mom's always had some type of sweet or sour concoction prepared. My parents and their friends all had several sets of cocktail glasses. There was a different set of glasses for each drink. We kids loved to drink our cola out of fancy long stemmed wine glasses. It always tasted so much better and more sophisticated. Mother would pour a little of the Maraschino cherry juice into our cola for a special treat. 

The weeks and days until Christmas were quite a hectic time, culminating with the Christmas Eve drive to my Grandparent's farm in South Georgia. Eagle Brand, sweetened condensed milk, was the magic product of the day. Mother's Magic Cookie Bars, Lemon Icebox Pie, and Holiday fudge were all favorites which have withstood the hands of time. All of these recipes will be included during the next few weeks. 
My mother was an extremely talented cook, but not such an accomplished baker. Once introduced to the "new and improved" boxed cake mixes, she was a believer. She could also do wonders with canned biscuits and crescent rolls. 
I hope to have fun sharing with you some of my favorite memories and recipes from my childhood. Life may not have been perfect, but my memories were.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Our Favorite Chili Recipe and a Halloween Tradition


I was very hesitant to even write this blog, as it seems so processed and unimaginative. But with Halloween quickly approaching, I've been thinking a lot about fun celebrations and trick or treating with the kids as the were growing up. Our Halloween tradition was pigs in a blanket and a bowl of chili served with saltines.
The pigs in a blanket were not the popular crescent roll variety, but a Lykes hot dog rolled with a slice of American Deluxe cheese in a slice of bread and secured with toothpicks. After trick or treating, we would place the pan of pigs in the oven at 400 degrees for about 5 to 10 minutes or until the bread was toasted and the dogs were browned.

I have tried many chili recipes over the years, but our family favorite is still the French's Chili-O seasoning version. I make just a very few changes to the package directions. I like chunky Vidalia onions in my chili, but omit the onions altogether when preparing this recipe for the children.

Famous French's Chili-O Chili

2 pounds ground chuck or ground round, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 small Vidalia onion - coarsely chopped
2 packages French's chili-o seasoning mix - available at Winn Dixie or WalMart
2 16 ounce cans Bush's Chili Beans - mild or medium - available at Winn Dixie
2 141/2 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 small can rotel tomatoes - (optional) - if you want a little more spice

Brown seasoned ground beef with chopped onions in large skillet. 
Stir in the two packs of French's Chili-O seasoning
Place meat mixture into 6 quart slow cooker.
Add chili beans, diced tomatoes, and Rotel tomatoes, if desired.
Cook on low 4 to 5 hours, until heated thoroughly and flavors have combined. 

Serve with fresh saltine crackers and, of course, a pig in a blanket.

The French's Chili-O mix and the Bush's Beans are the secret to this recipe

I would love to read your comments concerning my shortcut chili recipe.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Tuscan Slow Cooker Beef Stew


The humidity is lower in south central Florida and the temperature highs are only in the mid 80's. We are in the middle of our fall season which lasts from mid October - to late December. Then, we may run temperatures from lows in the 40's to back up in the 80's on the same day. But, we Floridians wouldn't trade the pumpkin patches, change of seasons, and autumn leaves for anything. We love our mild winters and short sleeve Thanksgivings. However, we do crave the fall comfort food that warms up our northern neighbors. And, I am considering our northern neighbors to include north Florida all the way up to Virginia and over to Arkansas and Texas. Anywhere north of those regions has a whole different outlook on food in general.

This morning, I put in my slow cooker all of the ingredients for a Tuscan Slow Cooker Beef Stew recipe that I found in Paula Deen's magazine from 2007. One stir and then it slow cooks for 8 to 9 hours. My slow cooker has about had the insides cooked out and I really want this Cuisinart model from Amazon.
  

Enough daydreaming. Let's get on to the goodness of this recipe.

Tuscan Slow Cooker Beef Stew

2 pounds beef stew meat- seasoned with salt and pepper
3 large carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 medium red potatoes peeled and cut into quarters
1 14.5 can of Itatlian style diced tomatoes
1 10 oz can beef broth
1 10 oz can tomato soup
1/2 cup red wine 
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

In an electric slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low 8 to 9 hours, or until beef and vegetables are tender. 
How easy is that!





Pinot Noir is the chef's choice for beef dishes. It was pretty good to the cook also, while awaiting the finished product. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Carolina Mustard Slaw for Hot Dogs and a 2nd Birthday


I had a great week visiting with both of my older children and grandchildren this week. Our visit started out with a fun 2nd birthday party for an adorable little boy. He really enjoyed his Mickey Cake with all of the colored icings. We are so lucky to have Publix here in Florida. The make great kids birthday cakes at a great price.
His Dad did a great job of cutting the cake and serving all of the cousins, grandparents, friends, aunts, and uncles. He also was in charge of the grill for the hot dogs and hamburgers. 
Yummy, Happy Birthday to Me!!
I pretty much got off easy. My only assignment was to prepare the Carolina Mustard Slaw for the dogs and burgers. I have several recipes, but chose this version, as I thought the children might like it. It has a little mayo and is not quite as strong as my other mustard slaw recipes. 
My son in law is from Venezuela and grew up eating potato sticks on hot dogs. They were also a must.
We ate our share of potato sticks as children growing up in south Georgia and central Florida also. Good things have no boundaries. 

Carolina Mustard Slaw - very easy 

1 bag angel hair slaw mix
1/4 cup Duke's Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
salt, pepper, and celery salt to taste

Mix the dressing - Mayonnaise, yellow mustard, and Dijon Mustard. Pour over slaw mix. Salt and pepper to taste. 
This recipe is delicious on hot dogs, hamburgers, or barbecue sandwiches. I have even been known to eat it with fried catfish, even though I usually make a more mayonnaise based slaw for fish. 

We enjoyed the slaw with hot dogs so much that I might be tempted to get this hot dog steamer for my older grandkids for Christmas. It is available at Amazon and shipping is free.